Five key stats from Barcelona 1-0 Getafe

Barcelona picked up yet another crucial victory in La Liga as they defeated Getafe 1-0 on Sunday evening to keep their lead atop the table intact.

It was not the best of performances from Xavi Hernandez’s men, especially after back-to-back belligerent displays against Real Madrid and AD Ceuta. But they got the job done once more, with Pedri scoring the only goal of the game at Camp Nou.

It was an important result, considering that Los Blancos went on to win their match against Athletic Club later in the night. Beating Getafe, thus, allowed Barcelona to hold on to their three-point lead at the top of the league standings.

The victory meant that after 17 games played in La Liga, Barcelona have won 44 points, their highest tally at this stage of the competition since 2017/18 (45), when they went on to win the title.

Pedri’s goal was the match-winner for the Blaugrana as he netted his fifth strike of the season across all competitions. The 20-year-old has now scored in consecutive appearances (vs Real Madrid, Getafe) for the first time for Barcelona across all competitions (98 matches played).

While Pedri’s strike was important, Marc-Andre ter Stegen once again proved his worth for Barcelona with a string of crucial saves to keep Getafe out and protect his team’s lead.

The German international is riding high on confidence after a couple of below-par seasons and is making a big difference for Barcelona.

After the match against Getafe, ter Stegen now has the highest save percentage (84.6%) across the top five European Leagues for the 2022/23 campaign (minimum 25 saves).

Ter Stegen’s heroics, coupled with the strong defensive performances of players like Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde, and Andreas Christensen have meant that this is the first time in history that Barcelona have conceded only six goals in the first 17 La Liga matches.

While there were a lot of positives for the Catalans, Ansu Fati was a major letdown as he failed to make the most of his opportunity when handed a start in the absence of Robert Lewandowski.

The 20-year-old failed to impact the proceedings on the night and he has now managed to score just one goal in his last eight starts for the club.